Umbrella Revolution Wall 2014

Thursday, July 26, 2012

K: So last night my invisible sensei came in my dream and
told me that I had to go fight the oni (monsters in Japanese). Then the oni
have beng hey (weapons in Cantonese, but I must still battle them on my honor.

S: What’s beng hey?

K: Weapons. You know why can’t I get up to the gods and
visit them on Olympus? I need to do battle!

S: It’s very high up.

K: Are they real? I need to fight monsters. Where can I
fight real monsters?

S: What kind of monsters?

K: Like Medusa. Is Medusa still around?

S: Didn’t someone kill Medusa?

K: Oh, yeah. Perseus. But what monster can I kill if there
aren’t any? I need to fight some real monsters!

S: Hmmmm. Well, maybe some of them are extinct now.

K: What are the monsters that aren’t extinct? I think I had
better climb up a really high mountain, and then take a cloud and ride the
cloud to Olympus and see the gods. Are those gods around?

S: I think they might be in Greece.

K: So Jack told me that he and his Dad built a boat with a
place to sit and then they both went in the boat and it went over the
waterfall. Can I build a boat and go over a waterfall? Hey, what if I just go
and jump down the waterfall?

S: Are you sure that Jack went down the waterfall in his
boat?

K: Yes. And then he built a spaceship and went up to space
and he had a party there. He told me.

S: Maybe he went on a waterfall. Maybe in Australia.

K: Yes, I am sure. I want to go. Or I can just go to this
waterfall here.

S: Gee, maybe he should invite you the next time to that
waterfall he went on, how’s that?

K: Well he ran out of paper. So I didn’t go.

S: What do you mean he ran out of paper?

K: He ran out of paper! So I couldn’t go because the
spaceship couldn’t deliver the piece of paper! For my birthday I am going to
build a spaceship and then here’s what I will do, I’ll get up to the mountain
and then tell the airplane man-

S: The pilot

K: Yes, the pilot that this is the paper about my party

S: The invitations?

K: Yes the invitations. And then the pilot can give this so
that everyone remembers to come and go to the spaceship. Or I can just get on a
cloud.

Later---

To preface, he has recently watched the Pepsi ad on youtube
from 2002 featuring sumo wrestlers and various Euro football players.

K: Why are those sumo wrestlers drinking Pipsi?

S: Maybe they don’t know it’s not healthy. Pepsi, you mean.

K: So is the Pipso make their bones bad? Do you think that
they listen to their mommies about this? And the football players were also
drinking Pipsi.

S: It’s a television commercial. So it’s not real anyway.

K: What’s a television commercial?

S: It’s a short show where they try to sell you things. Like
Pepsi.

K: But why do they want to sell Pepsi when it’s bad for
their health?

S: No, well, they get paid money for putting on the show for
Pepsi.

K: Maybe they drink it when they’re about 45?

S: Maybe.

K: Do you think I can wear my sumo loincloth on the football
court? Did you see that sumo wrestler and the ball hit him in the nipple, and
he didn’t feel it. Probably because he is a grown-up.

S: Even grown-ups feel it when a ball is kicked in their
chest.

K: He was in the goal. So I can wear my loincloth.

S: I think you should wear your loincloth only at home
because otherwise people might laugh and hurt your feelings. Besides, people
don’t wear loincloths to play football.

K: Well how come they were wearing loincloths on the
football court and playing football! And they drink Pipsi!

S: They do that because the someone is paying them money.
The company pays them the money to wear the loincloth and play football and
drink Pepsi. Because it’s bad for your health if you’re an athlete.

K:So I will wear my loincloth on the football court and
someone will pay me money for it.

S: No, that’s the TV commercial.

K: Well who can pay me money to wear my sumo loincloth! The
government?

S: The government will not pay you money to wear your
loincloth.

Later---

K: How come I can’t marry two people?

S: Because you can’t marry two people because one will get
very sad.

K: Why will one get sad?

S: Because you’ll spend all of your time with the other one.
People don’t want to share their marriage.

K: Well, why not! I want to marry two people. How can I
marry two people.

S: People don’t marry two people at the same time. Only in
some countries.

K: I’ll have to go to these countries. What countries are
they that you can get married to two people, India?

S: Uhm. Yes, well, I don’t know. Not in all places.
Actually, I don’t know. I’ll have to find out.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Typhoon Vicente is over. Mui Wo was covered in tree branches and leaves and twigs--not a big deal, but can be perilous on a speedy bike in the rain. A big tree in the garden area behind the basketball court was down.

This morning's bike ride was memorable. This is what I will remember when Keohi is older, some year when we are no longer in Mui Wo...

I pick up Keohi from Winky's dance studio (hip hop class) and it is pouring, absolutely coming down hard and we have no raingear. But I unlock our bikes, and he hops on his and I hop on mine and we ready to go. He clicks his helmet on. The old men from the dai pai dong look at us and smile. It's pouring. Everyone is waiting it out. Except for us.

We're drenched after unlocking our bikes and I tell Keohi we have to bike home fast. I'm wearing my glasses and rain is in my eyes--slight sting--pollution, hard to tell, maybe...and we head off. Something overcomes me...so I yell FAI DI LA (hurry!) and we're OFF! Wiki wiki (fast in Hawaiian), Bali bali (fast in Korean) I say, and we're hitting top speed on our bikes. WHOOOWEEEE yelling and yelling as we bike up up the hill!

Keohi starts going through all of the puddles and howling and laughing and we bike up and up and are thoroughly soaked by now. We turn into our sidewalk path in front of our house...Watch out for the cow poo! I remind him. (Yeah, the entire herd was in our garden a few days ago and left some big cow pies)

We bike into the yard, park. Drenched. Wet. Out of breath. Laugh. Keohi and me.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

It is very uncool to bring your Mcdonald's french fries into another restaurant--like the Cooked Food Market. This is the second time I've seen this happen. For the sake of being exacting, I will say this:
tonight's family was Filipino, the other night's family was Western (white/British). Tonight's family with the french fries had a small 4-5 year old child, the other night's family had two children, around age 5 and 9.

So why mention this? To shame you, guys, geez. C'mon. OK, eat your fast food. But don't bring it into another restaurant! It shows that such behavior has yes, NO COLOR LINES, as they said in LA, back in the day. It seems McDonald's crosses international boundaries of class, ethnicity, and nationality. And geez, the Cooked Food Market has some of the best food in Mui Wo. Fresh Canto food, hot from the wok, that wok-hay going strong.

Also, speaking of junk food behavior-- the worst was last week. A woman jabbering on her cell phone, pushing the stroller as she's walking with two kids, the stroller riding 18 month old (to my best estimate) was sucking down a plastic bottle of Coca-Cola. I felt like I was in some watching a rehearsal for a TV ad for malnourishment.

A scenic Mui Wo...and gee, you thought it was all green mountains and beach? No, to get the full experience one needs images like these;)

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Hong Kong lawmakers, and dealmakers, business community and tycoons fail to understand that one way that people define quality of life is air quality. Actually, this is not just in HK, but make this all of China.

While confidence in the U.S. remains low due to misguided perceptions that everything is swell, if not better in Asia, the fact remains, that for the vast majority of people, no matter your income level, no matter where you are living, your quality of life is infinitely superior in the U.S. or any Western country, and this is for one reason and one reason only: You can actually BREATHE air that is reasonably clean!

I came back from Beijing in June and was coughing for 10 days. Beijing is so filthy, it makes HK smell like a field of wild roses...

In this way, HK will never be the world-class city it aspires to be, or thinks of itself to be, nor will it ever be deemed a place that is ideal for anyone inhabit. Everyone here suffers from air quality. The excuses that everyone makes are astounding. While cities around the world are closing off streets, increasing bike lanes and routes, urging people to prioritize air quality--HK is building more roads for more cars. HK has superb public transportation, there is no need to clog up the city with more cars.

I feel bad for the people here (myself included). They are hostage to outmoded thinking, to leaders who have failed to look outward and beyond to see what mistakes have been made, in the West, in particular, regarding air quality. The lack of imagination in this way, the inability to see how air quality affects everything we do is astounding.

I said to a person in Beijing from Mainland, that I feel bad for the Chinese people. Their air is so bad. She nodded sorrowfully and said thank-you. She added "Air quality is a human right."

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Those who support the maintenance of feral cat colonies should understand that cats are not indigenous to South Lantau. They are predators and result in a fair amount of native species such as snakes, lizards, birds, butterflies and other small animals or insects, being killed off. Sure, who needs rats, or snakes, we all might say...but we have actually witnessed birds killed from our window by such predators, and this is a cause for concern (despite my personal dislike of amphibians and reptiles).

People who are animal friendly have to also understand that animals do affect the native environment and it does a greater disservice over the long haul to our environment to simply sustain a population without monitoring their overall impact on an ecological system. Given that people will and do keep domesticated animals, it would behoove those who support the cultivation of cat colonies to actually measure the population and proportion of feral cats and domesticated cats, and to note and measure the effects of such species on native plants and animal life on Lantau island. The invasion of non-native species greatly affects an eco system and should be monitored. Monitoring does not mean blindly feeding or sustaining non-native species without measuring the consequences good or bad of their imprint on this island.

That fluffy thing you think is so cute may in fact be killing off an endangered bird or rare lizard. Wherever people move, we inevitably affect the local environment, and the reality is, we kill off what was there prior, no matter how conscientious we may be about doing so. So have a think about what your beloved pet or your nearby colony of feral cats may be doing. Domesticated animals and even feral ones, particularly cats or dogs, give human beings much pleasure in life, and we all realize the importance of pets in individual lives, that is a given. But we must also weigh the consequences of all animals, as they are, like us, non-native species to this place.

Having my fairly ordinary, but on occasion, extraordinary life here in Mui Wo. And I'm doin' just fine, thanks.

Opting out of most things is not such a bad thing. And actually, what I am finding, is the more you do, the more extra-ordinary (potentially meaning 'strange' or 'different') you seem to most people, except your self. Which is rather peculiar, in and of itself...

But it is hard to have an ordinary life...because modern life does not prize ordinary. Or normal.

Normal is to object to a 60 hour work week. Normal is to complain that the air is filthy. To think that good healthcare is a human right. To believe that the violation of human rights is an abomination.

The world...does not really celebrate normal or ordinary...but I think that we should all try for it...

Glad that so many people marched today in HK. HK people deserve a better government. Let's hope they get it soon.

Keohi the Drummer 2009

South Lantau Fair Fall 2009

Butterflies Everywhere 2009

One of Lantau's extraordinary insects. The kind that does not leave you scratching....

Butterfly South Lantau 2009

Stunning and elusive

Green Bananas, 2009

We have to wait until they turn yellow...

Keohi and Steph in South Lantau 2009

Hiking past the gravesite. Beautiful.

I Need a Hug from Dada

Everyone feels better now

Hiking South Lantau 2009

Up the trail to Tung Chung

Baby Kaii and Katie 2009

Friends in the village

Hanging in front of the Lam's House

Helmet, ball, dinosaur undies, and slippers. Life is good.

Watermelon at the pink table 2009

I want the BIG PIECE. NO. THE BIG PIECE. Good. Finally you listened to me.

Halloween Family Pic 2009

American Halloween in Mui Wo 2009

Pirates from Luk Tei Tong

Getting ready to loot Downtown Mui Wo Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009

I'm a pirate, matey...note my matching diaper

Lawnmower Fall 2009

Mowing the lawn in my bike helmet and pink Wellies...

Keohi with sunglasses and bike--looking like Dada...

This my bike. MY BIKE.

Christian Zheng Sheng Association forum

Mui Wo gathers in the gym

Keohi and the Christian Zheng Sheng Assoc.

This is Democracy

May 2009 Keohi in Shades

Earth Tones...

Keohi, Grandma, and His Wheels

A gift from Grandma

Playtown, Kennedy Town, HK

Family Outing...Playtown!

The Hong Kong Insect Bite Index (HKIB)

The 2009 Mosquito Season officially over...sort of. November 24, 2009. The season's last mosquito killed by Stephen at 3AM.

First mosquito bite of 2009. Yup. Last night. On my back. February 5, 2009.The season begins...anticipating a wild rally in the upcoming months due to the killing of OBGB's indigenous frogs.And we have Japanese Encephalitis in our area. Isn't that swell?